Finding a Family
by Laheara
Summary: rewrote first chapter, working on second now New Heroes discover their powers and a friendship strong enough to transcend even death. Meet Alex, Jason, Jon, Amber and their friends. Set in the Heroes universe in a Manhattan private school.
1. Discovering Powers

**Finding a Family**

**By Laheara**

**(March 2007)**

**Chapter One**

**Discovering Powers**

The bright sunlight gleamed off the shining black limo as it pulled through the ornate wrought-iron electric gates of August Lance Academy, an elite private high school on Manhattan Island in New York. The schools buildings and grounds were well-tended. The buildings had tall light green stone arches and dark grey brickwork that was covered with thick green climbing vines with yellow blossoms. The schoolyard had a thick green lawn with both black wrought-iron and light tan wood benches scattered under large, leafy trees which shaded the students who sat under them. Several colorful flowerbeds edged the driveway and more were scattered throughout the grounds. Birds chirped in the trees.

It was mid-September and the students had been back for nearly three weeks. The grounds were occupied with stylish and cheerful teenagers in school uniforms of dark blue jackets, a white shirt, blue ties for the boys and ribbons for the girls, and black pants for the boys and skirts or pants for the girls. It was 8:45am Friday and many of the students were either studying or talking about what plans they had made for the weekend. Everyone had cell phones and most were working on laptops and transferring new music to their phones or mp3 players. A bell rang in three tones: low-high-low. Everyone started to scatter, heading into their first period classes in the various buildings nearby.

The car stopped before a building with an ornate stone sign in front of it which read: Hugh Edwards Hall. The driver, a man in a black suit and hat, approximately 35 years old and clean-shaven stepped out of the driver's door and came around to the back door of the passenger side. He opened the door and stood back as Alexia Connors stepped out. A well-groomed 17 year-old girl, she had long dark brown hair with soft large curls, bright blue eyes, a smooth white, but not pale, complexion. She was average height and had an attractive figure. She wore the standard school uniform with a skirt and had her hair down but pulled back into a clip at each side. She carried a case with her laptop, phone and books in it.

Alexia, known to everyone except the principal and her mother as Alex, smiled to her father's driver as he closed the door.

"Have a good day, Miss Alex."

Alex nodded and started toward the building. "Thanks Benny, I will."

She ran inside, luckily her first class was close to the main doors so she wasn't late. The classroom was long and wide lit by a bank of large roll out windows. There was a low rumble of voices and the sign on the door read: Political Science, Mr. Ronald Adams. The students knew that Mr. Adams enjoyed giving them a test every Friday to recap the week and were getting pencils out in preparation.

It was warm so Alex took off her jacket and slipped into her seat at the front of the second row and smiled at Mr. Adams. He nodded and passed out the tests as the room quieted. About five minutes later, the door to the room opened again and a boy who was in four of Alex's other classes staggered in and sat in his seat at the back near the windows.

Jason Drow had wild and stylishly messy dirty blonde hair, bright green eyes and a lightly tanned complexion. He was slightly shorter than average and wore a baggy uniform in an attempt to hide his thin, but attractive physique. But the large clothing just served to make him look smaller than he was. He seemed troubled and didn't look at Mr. Adams as he made his way to his seat. He sighed as a test paper was placed in front of him. He dug through his bag and produced a pencil, starting to write down answers as he went through the quiz. Something else was clearly on his mind.

Alex suddenly looked up as she heard a voice saying, "W_hy am I not dead? It hit me straight on...and I'm alive...Why didn't I die?" _When no one else looked around Alex realized she was the only one that heard the voice.

The voice vanished as quickly as it had started as Mr. Adams handed a piece of paper to Jason. It was a detention slip: his uniform was unkempt and loose and he had worn a hoodie over it which was not tolerated.

Alex smiled to a few of her friends as she passed the test down the row. Being a popular girl meant she had an appearance to keep up. She was very bright with excellent grades and enjoyed all of her classes so she ran through the test very quickly.

As she was working on the last essay question, she heard a whisper. She stopped and listened in surprise – it was well known that Mr. Adams didn't tolerate cheaters. She couldn't imagine that any of her classmates were that stupid, especially since this was an easy quiz just covering the last five days of class. She shook it off and went back to her essay. Then she heard the voice again but this time she understood a couple words: "shot" and "die".

Alex looked up at Mr. Adams. He was going over the day's lesson. He didn't seem to hear anything. She heard it again and thought it was very strange that Mr Adams didn't even look up. The voice was very loud. "_…hit me straight on… Why didn't I die?"_

Suddenly Alex knew who the voice belonged to. It was… what was that guy's name, the baggy one… Jensen? Jamie? JASON. That was it, Jason, the guy in the back row. She looked over her shoulder and saw him leaning forward with his head on his hands apparently daydreaming.

"Miss Connors? Is something the matter?" Mr. Adams came over to her.

She jumped and looked up at him taking a second to register what he'd said. "No, sir. Nothing, I just thought I heard something outside."

Mr. Adams just pointed back at her half-finished essay and tapped his watch. She nodded and went back to work. "Sorry, sir."

Jason looked up when Mr. Adams spoke and saw Alex quickly turn away from looking at him to respond. He finished his test and stood up to hand it in. He had been digging at his hand with his sharpened pencil. It didn't even hurt; he just felt an odd pressure. He walked right past Alex and stumbled slightly, brushing against her rather hard. He steadied himself and straightened up.

Alex heard him say 'sorry', but his lips didn't move. Then his mouth opened and he spoke the word. "Sorry."

He continued to the front and laid his test on the teachers desk then went back to his desk. He looked up again and his eyes widened. He looked at his hand – it was now completely headed. He stared back up at Alex who had a large smear of blood on her white sleeve. He seriously hoped she wouldn't connect it with him and that was all he could think about. He kept looking at the blood on her sleeve.

Alex finished her quiz and took it up to Mr. Adams. When she turned, she looked at Jason again. He was poking his hand with his pencil. She reached her seat, sat down and pulled out a book she'd been reading, Activating Evolution. She heard a seat in the back move but ignored until she was jerked to the side as Jason stumbled into her. He put his hand on the seat of her chair right beside her leg to balance himself. He looked down at her and she heard "sorry". She was about to say it was ok when he said it again and walked by. She was confused that he'd say it twice and when he walked by her again she said. "No problem."

When Jason got back to his desk, Alex heard his voice again. "_Oh god, oh no, don't look at the blood. Alex… oh no, please don't look at the blood."_

Alex was amazed that no one else seemed to notice anything strange. He wad talking about blood and then she heard the word sleeve and smelled copper. She looked around and then looked at her sleeve. Her eyes widened as she saw a long smear of blood down her arm. She looked at Jason and saw him staring at her.

One of her friends looked up and screamed. The whole class looked around and Mr. Adams went to the girl who had screamed. She looked at Alex as she pointed to her.

Mr. Adams swallowed hard a couple times and quickly walked over to Alex. "Miss Connors, what happened? Are you all right? I need a volunteer to take Miss Connors to the nurse."

Alex ran her hand up and down her arm beneath the sleeve but didn't feel anything. "Sir, I'm fine, I don't think it's blood. I might have brushed against some red paint on the dance sign coming in here. Really, I'm ok."

Her breathing quickened and suddenly Alex's head was filled with voices, not just Jason's. She found it hard to concentrate on what was happening. Jason was hoping they didn't decide to find out who the blood belonged to and in his nervousness, he drove his mechanical pencil through his hand with a flinch. He looked down at his hand, eyes wide, hoping nobody would notice. He yanked the pencil out and held his bleeding hand as it slowly healed. When he had been shot, it had taken him several hours to heal; he'd actually spent most of yesterday in an alley in Brooklyn before he woke up. He was scared that the hole in his hand would take that long to heal as well. His blood dripped onto his pants and his white sleeve was reddened from it as well. Alex could hear his thoughts clearly above the rest of the class as he wrapped his hand casually in his sweat shirt. "_Please don't look back...I'm not here...Just concentrate on Alex! Don't look at me!"_

Alex had the entire class looking her over in concern. Alex winced at all the voices in her head, but was pleasantly surprised that they all seemed genuinely concerned. She was pleased that her classmates really cared about her and not just for her parents' money. She had only been at this school since the first of the semester; since her parents had moved to New York from LA.

Then she heard Jason's voice again. He seemed scared. She wondered why he wanted everyone to look at her. She looked back at him and saw him take off the hoodie he'd been wearing instead of his uniform jacket and put his hand in it. She saw the red stain on his uniform sleeve similar to her own. She stood and asked, "Mr. Adams, could I open a window?"

The teacher looked at her. "All right everyone go back to your seats, let Miss Connors breathe. Yes, Miss Connors, you may open a window."

Alex turned and walked back and over to the window beside Jason. As she reached over to grab the handle to roll out the window, she noticed the class was looking forward as Mr. Adams began speaking. She looked down at Jason; he was her lab partner in Chem class.

She leaned close to Jason and whispered. "Are you hurt? You bled on me. And your sleeve is red. You better roll it up so no one sees it. Do you want to go to the nurse?"

"I'm fine, it was...Just a fake blood capsule, it broke in my hand. I'm sorry about your shirt." He rolled up his sleeve so nobody could see the red stain and dared to use the fingers of his injured hand probe his palm to see if there was still a wound. It was still there and covered in the hoodie he had wrapped around it. Alex could hear in his thoughts that it was all real blood, but she couldn't confront him now.

As soon as the bell rang, Jason left the classroom quickly and made his way to a single unisex bathroom and locked himself in.

As she passed the bathroom, Alex could hear his distressed thoughts inside._ "Heal damnit! Why is it taking so long?"_

Jason tried washing his hoodie, but couldn't get the blood out. He ended up tossing it in the trash. He looked at his hand again. The wound was gone. He sighed, rinsing the blood from his skin. Leaving the bathroom, he ran right into Alex. "Oh! Sorry."

Alex stopped when she heard Jason's voice again. He said something about healing and she remembered the blood. She knew he was lying about the fake blood. She'd done enough school plays and Halloween parties to know it didn't have a copper smell like real blood. When the door of the bathroom opened she was still listening to his thoughts and didn't move in time and he barreled right into her. She heard him say sorry but wanted to talk to him.

She pushed him backwards into the bathroom again and closed and locked the door. "All right, what the hell is up with you? Why are you cutting yourself?" She reached out and grabbed his hands but they were spotless.

He was surprised by her reaction and surprised when she pushed him back into the bathroom. He wast prepared for her questions. But when she held up his hands and found nothing he just looked at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Why would I cut myself?" He didn't notice as his sleeve unrolled slightly, revealing the dark splotch of blood. It hadn't completely dried yet.

She grabbed the arm with the reddened sleeve and smelled it. "Right, then explain this. Fake blood doesn't smell of copper, event the high-grade movie stuff. You're hurting yourself and then healing - like getting shot. Who shot you and why? Are you in trouble? My mom is a lawyer she could help you? I could get her to do it _pro bono_ as a favor to the school."

He pulled his arm away from her and grumbled defensively. "Fine! I can't get hurt, okay?! Not from what's happened over the last couple days at least."

He took a safety pin from his pocket and jammed it into the palm of his hand with barely a flinch, then pulled it out. It bled for a second, then the blood sucked back in and the wound healed.

"The bigger wounds heal slower. Like when I got shot the other day. I was at a mini mart that was getting robbed and I ran. One of the robbers chased me into an alley and shot me. I woke up the next day...and...wait…how did you know I got shot? Have you been following me or something? You aren't the one who shot me are you? And even if your mom is a lawyer, what would I say? This man shot me in the gut and I coughed up the bullet? Who would believe me? I'm not going to go around telling people about what I can do, people already think I'm a freak without this. I'm sure you've heard plenty of the rumors about me, right?"

He instantly thought of a few he'd heard whispered in class or in the halls. Ticking off which ones were true and which were false in his head. "_I don't wear women's underwear...I was born with six toes on my left foot but had one removed. And the quarterback of the schools football team is quite attractive..." _That last one wasn't a rumor, but it was true and was in his mind.

Alex watched as he drove the pin into his hand and winced along with him. Then he pulled it out and she watched as it healed in a few seconds and listened as he explained being shot.

"It's called spontaneous cell regeneration and as far as science knows humans can't do it that fast yet, just mostly bugs. Yes, larger wounds would take longer because they would require more energy so you'd be unconscious while it healed. Which is why you woke up so much later when you body had the energy to wake you up."

She took his hand in both of hers and ran a finger over the spot getting his blood on her hand. Then she looked at him like he had three heads. "Of course I didn't shoot you, I hate guns and I think they're a terrible invention. And why in the world would I follow you around? I suppose you're right about people thinking you're a bigger freak then they already do." Then she smiled and looked at him. "You really had 6 toes? I had a cat once that had weird feet. And I agree Brandon Thomas is hot but a bit demanding." Then she realized what he'd just said, "Wait! You like guys?"

He listened to her talk and let her look at the spot where he had jabbed himself. "I was scared of it at first, but now I can't stop doing it...it's weird." He pulled his hands away and leaned against the wall, rolling his bloodied sleeve back up. His eyes widened as she started responding to things he had never said out loud.

His entire face turned beet red when she commented about Brandon. "I… but... how did you... you can read minds can't you?!" He attempted to get the subject off of himself and his crush on Brandon Thomas.

Alex blushed a bit when she realized those had been thoughts. "Oh, sorry I suppose I skipped that part. Yes, I guess I can read minds and you got your power before I got mine. I didn't start hearing people's voices until I heard you today then it turned into the whole class. I don't think I got much of what Mr. Adams taught today, but neither did you - hiding that hand all class. And don't think I didn't notice that you changed the subject. I don't have a problem with your people, but it does explain a few things. With a little work you could be kinda cute and girls do notice you but you never seemed interested I guess I never looked to see if you were checking out guys. Also explains why you like to watch the football games and practices but never tried out for the team."

Her mind raced over everything and she smiled. "Well, I guess I can tell Lydia you won't be saying yes to a date with her."

Jason's face remained very red as he looked at her and she rambled on. "Lydia wanted to date me? I guess I'm flattered... but you're right, I would say no. And what do you mean with a little work I could be kind of cute? I have to work very hard to look the way I do and I don't mean I'm trying to make myself look good, I'm trying to just blend in and not be noticed by the big strong guys or the girls ... and you have been following me haven't you? Otherwise you wouldn't know I watched games and practices ..."

Alex sighed and put her hand on her hip. "In case you hadn't noticed, Brandon and Tyler and several guys on the team have been all over me since I got here. We made a deal: I wouldn't have to choose between them and they wouldn't call me at home a million times if I'd come to their games. So while I'm there, bored out of my mind, I've looked around and have seen you there too."

"At least people call you. I would kill to have people all over me like that. And okay, I'll stop thinking you're following me." He looked her over, then looked at his watch and thought, "C_rap! Late for class!"_ Then he said, "Crap...we're late for class!"

Again Alex heard the strange echo of thought and speech as Jason spoke.

She shook her head at the echo and said out loud. "I'm going to have to get used to hearing doubled voices all the time now."

Then she noticed her next class started five minutes ago. "Oh man, we ARE late. Ok, we have a short day today, Chem class right after lunch is the last class for both of us today. We'll talk then and maybe, I dunno, grab a bite after school?"

"All right, I guess I could spare a bit of my time to hang out with someone." Then he thought, "_For the first time ever_."

He had never had any real friends. Like all little kids he had had friends in grade school and one or two in middle school. But once his parents hit it big in their careers, he went straight to a private school where he knew nobody and had had trouble making new friends. He walked right into the bathroom door, forgetting it was locked. He fumbled at the knob, embarrassed, and then finally unlocked the door and the two of them came out of the bathroom just in time to be seen by a passing teacher. The teacher, seeing the two come out of a bathroom, assumed the worst and plenty of questions followed.

Alex snickered as he walked into the door and thought about his comment of 'first time'. When he stepped into the hall ahead of her she saw a teacher and tried to pull him back but it was too late and they were seen. She opened a water bottle and splashed some water on her stained sleeve. She tried the excuse that he had offered to help her get the stain off her sleeve. The teacher frowned but seemed to believe her as neither where trouble students. She waved them on to class with slips so they wouldn't get in trouble for coming in late.

END Chapter One

Title: Finding a Family

Authors: Laheara and Pink

Timeline: starting on day 1 with the eclipse just like the show

Spoilers: All 18 episode so far

Summary: Set in the Heroes universe in a rich private school in Manhattan. New Heroes discover their powers and a friendship strong enough to transcend even death. This is a real time RPG a friend and I are doing at nights on AIM. Anyone interested in making a character and join let me know.

Disclaimers: Pink and I own our original characters but the idea and main characters of Heroes belong to NBC and their creators.


	2. Hurting Yourself

**Chapter Two**

**Hurting Yourself**

The morning went by slowly and finally it was lunch. Alex came in with the usual group of very popular and rich girls followed by some popular boys who wanted to date these girls and went through the cafeteria line. Brandon offered to carry her tray to the table for her and she saw Jason in his usual corner. She tried to get his attention to wave but he never looked up so she let them drag her to their normal table.

Jason was relieved when they didn't get in trouble for the washroom thing and by lunch time he was starved. He sat in his corner alone, hearing the chatter of the other students. He never looked up from his plate as he poked at the questionable food with his fork. For some reason Alex could hear a few of his thoughts above all the others, basically she just heard him thinking about how nice she seemed and he was hoping she was sincere. His thoughts were interrupted though when a large wad of mashed potatoes thumped right into the back of his head, causing his hand to slip from under his chin and his face to fall flat into his food. The laughter started near his corner and began to circle around as people started telling others what had happened. He wiped his face as best as he could with a napkin and got up, running for the bathroom again and locking it behind him, cleaning his face and his hair. He sat in the corner of the locked bathroom, wet hair plastered over his face and nearly to his chin. Alex could feel his obvious distress and the noise in her head from the other students was starting to give her a headache.

Alex could hear the terrible thoughts some of the other students were having and when Jason ran from the room the laughter was enough to deafen her. She tried to block it out but couldn't and got a headache. She stood and said she needed some air and Brandon wanted to help but she said she was fine. Then she followed the sound of Jason's thoughts to his seeming favorite place to hide, the washroom. She could hear how embarrassed he was and softly knocked on the door. "Jason? It's me, Alex? Can I come in? I'm sorry about what happened back there."

Jason didn't respond to her though, at least not verbally. He just kept quiet, sitting in the corner of the bathroom. He slowly got up and moved to the door to unlock it. He thought, "_That's the first time that's happened, but I guess it was going to happen eventually." _Alex could clearly see the redness of his eyes and though it mixed in with the wetness of his recently washed face, there were a few stray tears. After unlocking the door, he had turned and moved back to his corner quickly, putting his chin on his knees. She would most likely be wondering why he wasn't speaking out loud to her, and her answer would be found in a bloody pencil that lay halfway across the room.

Alex could hear his thoughts and felt sorry for him. When he let her in she just locked the door again and watching him sit back down. He seemed very upset and she could see the tears. She walked over and knelt in front of him, she could feel he needed the gentle hand of a friend. She pulled out a tissue from her bag and gave it to him to wipe himself off. Then she caught him looking at the pencil and walked over to pick it up. She stared at it in her hand as it stained her palm red. A tear fell down her cheek as she had heard of the condition but never knew anyone with it. She turned and came back to kneel in front of him and she whispered. "You're a cutter. When you're hurt instead of fighting back you take it personally and hurt yourself. I'm so sorry, it must be painful." She got another tissue and took his bloody hand and wiped it off, but she didn't see the real wound that was healing now. Then she held his hand and tried to get him to look at her.

"_It used to be a way to get rid of the pain, by cutting...but now it doesn't even hurt anymore, the cuts just bleed a little and then heal." _He lifted his head and looked at her, she could clearly see the still healing hole where the pencil had entered the front of his neck and came out the back. Obviously it went straight through his vocal chords. He held out his arms and she could see some scars along them. He noticed that there were less than there had been, even though the wounds were gone, the scars were slowly healing.

As he tilted his head back she could see the blood running down his neck from the hole and winced. When he thought about what all he'd done to himself over the years she was hit with an overwhelming wave of despair and self hatred that made her cry out and stagger back against the wall holding her head. "Oh god."

His neck was fully healed by now and his shirt was stained with blood, not suitable for school now. But he could use his voice again. "What's wrong? Did you just realize that a high school student like me could try dieing so many times and fail every single time? My parents still don't even know about it. But now it looks like I can't do anything about...I always was a fast healer. Maybe now I won't get any bruises when they beat me up...They only beat up the kids that are smaller than them, and that includes me."

Alex was assailed by more memories and emotion from his tortured life and it actually made her nearly black out. "To much sadness, to many memories… it hurts…" She thought if she could get further away from him it might lessen so she scampered away and leaned against the door. She breathed deeply then leaned her head back against the door looking at him again. "I'm so sorry, you're in so much pain." Then she felt the tickle of something warm running from her nose but was to dizzy at the moment to do anything.

Once she had explained the reason for her current behavior, Jason felt somewhat bad. He pulled off his already bloody shirt and held a clean part to her nose to stop the blood flow. "Should you go see the nurse? Or maybe take some Advil or something?" He had no idea what to do and just wanted it all to stop.

She winced as he came over to her but when he put the shirt on her face she put her hand over one of his and wiped the blood away. Then she pinched her nose closed, remembering that stops normal nose bleeds. "What would I tell them? That this guy I've only known a couple of month hurts himself and I got bombarded with his memories through this new power to read minds I've had for all of four hours and can't control yet? Yeah, they'd have you up on assault charges for hitting me and we'd both be in the office. It'll go away eventually, I hope. I really am sorry, you've had a hard life and you're still so young, but hurting yourself isn't the answer. I don't know what is, but I know that isn't."

"You know you could just tell them you suddenly got a massive headache and your nose started to bleed." He couldn't help but grin at himself, his memories moved back into his mind with the smile, even easing off of Alex, lessening the headache. "And no matter who does what, I need to change my clothes. I'm not allowed to go to class with no shirt.

When he sorted his memories and got control again it eased the pressure Alex felt in her head and the nosebleed finally stopped. She rolled up the shirt and put it in the garbage. "Thanks, and the headache is easing off now. Um, do you have a change of clothes here at school?" She looked at her watch and there was still thirty-five minutes of lunch left. "We still have half and hour, you can run back to the dorms and get changed."

"Of course I have a change of clothes at the school, I live here don't I? And actually, I have had my own room with no roommates since I started here. I guess that's one good thing about my parents, they pay a little extra for the single room. Come on, I can show you where I call home." He made sure to be quick and somehow he made it to his dorm without anyone seeing. One look inside his closet told Alex all she needed to know about Jason's fashion sense. There were a few uniforms that were big and baggy, but the rest of his stuff was tight fitting, cute and overall seemed to match his attitude when he was in a good mood. And also there was a lot of pink. "I know I never really wear it to school...but I almost always wear some of my real clothes under the nasty uniform, I like how it feels better."

When he grabbed some clothes out she turned her back so he could change and decided to go through the closet. She smiled at some of the outfits and pulled a pink shirt and black leather pair of pants out and hung them beside the door to look at them. When he cleared his throat to say it was ok to look she turned and pointed at the clothes. "Oh my goodness, you really are gay. I always loved gay guy clothes, they are so cute, like girls clothes. You would look really hot in this set."

His face was red as soon as she said that last sentence. He was dressed in his usual baggy uniform, ready to go back to class "Too bad I will never wear that where people can see me inside the halls of his school." He took the clothes she had taken out of the closet and put them back in. Most people might just shove them in somewhere, but Jason seemed to have a system. He searched for a moment, then the shirt went in, after another moment of searching, the pants went in as well. "Okay, I'm ready and clean now."

Alex looked over his shoulder as he put the clothes away and caught sight of some more school uniforms a couple of sizes smaller that would fit him better. She pushed him away from the closet and started digging again and pulled out another uniform. Then she turned back to him and actually fitted it to his body as she held it. "Oh come on, you really have to wear this one!" She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it out of his pants and lifted the shirt up. She smiled when she saw abs there and then looked behind him. "Ok, I had gay friends in my school in LA and I KNOW you love to show off the body. They used to let me dress them, so come on, you've got the body, work it boy, work it!"

Again he blushed and when she said "Work it boy, work it" he couldn't stifle a giggle and it escaped his lips. He tried to protest, but she wouldn't budge. "Alright, fine, if it will make you calm down." He undressed again and put on the smaller uniform. The one he had just taken off was folded neatly on a chair beside him as he cleared his throat once more to tell her he was done. The pants were a snug fit and looked nice, especially if he turned around. The shirt was just as snug on his upper body and thankfully they weren't to strict about having your shirt tucked in, because if he even shrugged, it pulled up revealing a bit of his smooth skinned, slightly abbed tummy. "How's this look?"

Alex was waiting for him to signal her and when he did she spun around and looked at him. Her mouth fell open and she stared. Finally her brain caught up and she walked over and circled him with one long finger nail between her teeth and she smiled as he grabbed her arm and made her stop in front of him. She brought her other hand up and gave him a thumbs up. "DAMN boy, you are HOT! And I feel perfectly safe saying that since I know you're not going to hit on me. This works perfect for me, a guy I can talk to about other guys and he won't be bored. It's like being home in LA again. You would have loved my friend Mitch. That boy could floor a room he was so hot. If you come to my penthouse this weekend we could video chat with him."

Jason was at a loss for words, he stammered for a moment, then looked at his watch. "We're going to be late again, we should get to class." She could tell he was embarrassed slightly as he dragged her from his room. They made their way to one of the classes they shared and sat down. They had assigned seating and many of the girls continued to glace around at Jason. One even leaned towards Alex to ask about him. "Is that the same kid with the baggy clothes that always sits in the corner at lunch? Jason I think...He's kind of hot...you think he'd be interested in me? Or is he yours?"

Alex grinned at the question and thought about what the best answer would be. She smiled and looked back Jason and caught his eye and smiled at him seductively and he smiled back shyly and she said. "I'm not sure yet, but for now let's say he's mine. He was interested before, we still need to talk more." Most of the girls near her overheard and looked at him again with a sigh and then looked away. Alex smiled at all the attention he was getting and knew he would have words with her later but she didn't care.

He couldn't hear what Alex was saying, but he sank lower in his seat, his face red with embarrassment. He had never had anyone looking at him like this before. He glared slightly at Alex, a sort of comical glare as it was, but still a glare. When class was over, he rushed up to her and managed to separate her from the girls and their questions. He even felt a hand slide across his ass. "What did you tell them? What did they ask? And who's hand was that?"

Alex looked a Lydia and shook her head and pointed to the rest of the girls. "Sorry that was Lydia, I already told you she likes you. And Megan asked me if she could ask you out or if you were mine. So considering, I said you were mind. They won't go after you now."

"So you didn't tell them I'm gay?" He had said it quietly and nobody overheard them. He was relieved that his little secret was still safe and that he had at last found a friend. "So what is it you wanted to do after classes today? Go hang out somewhere? If I'm being totally naive it's because I have seriously lost touch with the meaning of friendship or whatever. I haven't hung out in a long time and really don't know what I would do with a friend..."

Alex smiled and said, "Well for starters, you usually thanks friends for covering your little secrets and then when they invite you to come home with them you say sure and go. So we just act normal until last period and then we wait for my dad's driver."

"So your parents actually live in the city? Mine live in LA. Can't really go home to them any time I want to now can I? And I can act normal until the end of the day, unless something impales me or something." He laughed a little, it was a nice laugh, a kind of cute laugh. "Oh..and can I change out of my uniform before we go? No offense to the school, but the uniform truly is a fashion don't...actually, offense is meant to the school."

Alex laughed, "Are you kidding, I don't go anywhere without changing first. I have a room here in the dorms too for if I need to keep stuff here at school. But I prefer to go back to my parents place. And I can relate about never seeing my parents. They only got here a couple weeks ago. I always lived apart from before it just so happens we all ended up here in New York. My dad got Chief of Medicine at a hospital here and my mom got a partnership in a local law firm. So for the first time since I was three, we're all living together for more then short two month periods."

"I don't see my parents until I come home during summer, and even then they aren't always there. I think the most time I have spent with them was a month, and they were always in and out and barely paid attention to me. Then they sent me here...and now it's time to go to our last class and play with chemicals!" He grinned widely. Jason was an odd one, he went through as many mood swings in one day as a pregnant woman might go through in the same day. "I do believe we get to play with acids today and fire!"

Alex looked at her watch and it was time for Chem class. She pointed a warning finger at him and shook it back and forth. "Repeat after me, "I will not set myself or Alex on fire or burn either of us with acids." You can heal but I can't, so I don't want any unwantedly permanent souvenirs of our first day together as friends."

His grin was evident, but he tried to hide it. "It was never my intention to set anyone on fire." They went into the classroom and sat down at their lab table. The class went smoothly. Nobody seemed to noticed, not even Jason, when he accidentally held his hand over the flame as he was looking around for the teacher. His skin bubbled lightly and turned black as it began to flake away and the smell was terrible. He couldn't really feel it, but he smelled the burning flesh and he looked back to his flame. He made no noise as he quickly hid his hand under the table. He looked at Alex who had just noticed as well and gave him a look that clearly meant she was insulting him in her mind, but in a friendly manner. He shrugged and said, "Sorry...I didn't notice...really..."

Alex shook her head and looked under the table to watch his hand healing. "You're lucky I can read your thoughts and know you're telling the truth. Otherwise you'd be getting yelled at later." She smiled and playfully smacked him in the arm as the teacher came over to check on their mixture of chemicals. He asked Jason to hold up the notes and Alex quickly picked them up and passed them instead. He didn't seem to care and then walked on to the next team only saying to keep their safety glasses on. Alex breathed and smiled at Jason. "This is fun, it feels like I'm keeping some state secret or something. Of course if the rest of the world found out we'd both likely end up guinea pigs in some government lab."

His hand was soon healed and he pulled it up above the table. "Maybe someday I'll go on live TV and slit my wrists, just to see their reactions." He grinned and continued their experiment until the class was over. They cleaned up and were soon back at Jason's room looking in his closet full of clothes. "What should I wear? I never know what to wear...A lot of the time it feels like I really have nothing at all to wear..."

Alex walked over and spied that outfit she pulled out before and grabbed it again. She turned around to face him with it leaning against her. "As I said before, you would look really hot in this. And bring a couple changes of clothes too. My parents are leaving for London at 630 tonight so we'll have the place to ourselves after that for two days. You might as well stay in one of our guest rooms instead of coming all the way back here. Take a uniform and we just come to school together Monday too. We can spend the next couple days figuring out what all we can do with our powers."

He smiled at her, she was really a true friend and he had only known her for less than a day. Without warning, he was stripping. He didn't care if she saw him in his underwear, he was covered by boxerbriefs. It wasn't like he was wearing one of his thongs. But then he remembered she could read thoughts and he had been thinking all that...His face returned to its familiar color of red as he pulled on the leather pants and the pink shirt. "Oh! I remember I bought a pair of boots to go with these pants." He pulled out the boots and got them on. Alex looked at them and was pretty sure the boots were meant for women. They didn't go quite to his knees, but they had buckles all down the sides and had thick, two inch heels, making him one inch taller than her now. "How do I look?" He grinned and walked around in the boots and they actually gave him more of a sway than he had earlier.

Alex giggled at him in the boots and looked him over. "You look like a hot gay boy. I can't wait to see the look on the face of my doorman and the driver. My parents will be like "whatever" because I brought Mitch home all the time." While he packed the rest of his clothes that she picked out she called her father's driver to pick her up at the east dorms instead of the main building like normal. He said he'd be there in twenty-five minutes and she hung up and told Jason. "Benny will be here in about twenty minutes." Then she walked over to his drawers and looked through a few until he pulled her away and closed them. She laughed and sat on his bed looking at the posters on his wall and dark curtains. "Ya know, if I didn't know better, from the layout of this room, I'd say you were into emo."

Alex got a clear view of the colors and designs of thongs in the top drawer before she was pulled away and there was one that matched the color of his face at the moment. He pulled some underwear into his overnight bag and looked back at her, then around his room. "I don't really classify myself as being into anything or being emo or metro or whatever...I just do my own style...now where's my eye liner..." He pretended to look around and then laughed, obviously faking because that was already in his bag if he needed it.

Alex knew he was just trying to get her off topic because she'd heard him tick that off the list mentally when he was packing. She looked at him with a questioning stare. "So, where are you from originally? I was born in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. You have any brothers or sisters? I don't. What do your parents do?"

"I'm from Oregon actually, other side of the country. Dad's a lawyer and Mom's a doctor. And both overcharge their clients, that's how they afford this place. I'm an only child, never had any siblings. The only people I had to play with when growing up was the hired help. And let me tell you the nannies I had were quite ugly and smelly, I kept hoping Marry Poppins would come pay me a visit."

Alex looked strangely at him and then smiled. "That's weird, you're parents the opposite of mine, my mom is the lawyer and my dad is the doctor. I wonder if they know each other? You know I've never been to the north west coast? I've been to Vancouver but not state side. So when did your power show up?"

"It showed up last weekend actually. I was at some mini mart just wandering around and I was near the door. Someone robbed the place and shot the clerk. I was the only other one there and I got a look at his face. I ran, he followed and I got lost, finding myself in an alley and he shot me. Then I woke up the next day and coughed out the bullet."

"Wow, that must have been terrifying. I'm guessing you didn't describe him to the police. I guess I've had a pretty sheltered life. The only time I go out is if I have to do something, otherwise stuff is brought to me. My dad is paranoid something will happen to me and keeps me almost locked up. My mom can't have any more kids so I'm it for them and mom won't adopt. Needless to say we had a lot of slumber parties at my place." She laughed but did love that her parents cared so much.

He smiled and sat down, crossing his legs, which looked rather sexy in the leather pants and the boots. "What was I going to do? Go to the police with a bullet hole in my shirt, covered in blood with blood in and around my mouth and tell them I just coughed up a bullet that was shot into me by a robber whom I can describe?"

Alex tried to picture the looks on their faces and laughed. "Yeah, I don't think that would have gone over to well. They would have put you in the drunk tank for the night, or worse." She waved her hand in front of her. "Man, they keep it warm in these dorms." She walked over to her bag and pulled out her normal clothes. A light blue form fitting top that cut low as it crossed her chest and tied in a knot with the ties dangling to the right side and black satin pants with silver clips at the base of the legs and silver embroidery around the side and back pockets. She pointed her finger and spun it in a circle telling him to turn around while she changed.

He grinned and was already starting to turn when she motioned for him to turn. "You should really get some boots like mine. They are surprisingly comfortable and we could match!" He laughed and stretched a little. "At least you don't have to worry about bleeding all over your favorite shirt, I did that when I was shot...If I had died I wouldn't have cared...but nooooo I had to live and find my best shirt with a hole in it and stained with blood."

Alex laughed and cleared her throat when she was done. Then she sat down on the bed again. "Well look on the bright side. You can wear it for Halloween and it will look really real. Then her cell phone chirped and she opened it to see a text from the driver saying he was early and outside now. "Well time to go, he's here early. You have everything?" Then she turned back around and looked. "Do I have everything? Yep, I'm good. OK, let's head out."

END of Chapter 2


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